Help
Us Help Others!

Center
for Research
Allied POWS
Under the Japanese

In the mid-1990's, Roger Mansell began
working on an
Internet website in order to share with the world his research on
Allied prisoners of war who were held by the Japanese during WWII. In
the fall of 2000, he published "a 'hidden' web site for assorted
documents,
etc., that have been requested by various historians looking at the
POWs under the Japanese." He soon afterwards made his website
officially public.

In May 2001, I published my website on Fukuoka
POW
camps. Interestingly, Roger's first comments about my site were, "The
detail I found was on this site... I am not sure whether this info is
backed by official records." We soon started corresponding and began
sharing our research with each other -- a
friendship that developed into a strong bond known only among
historians of the same mind.

Just
before Roger passed away in the fall of 2010, he contributed all his
research and artifacts to the Hoover Institution (see
his collection), and he published his book, Captured: The Forgotten Men of Guam.
But perhaps the greatest legacy he left was when he decided to hand
over his website to Dwight Rider and myself -- his dying
wish was to have his work continue. And it certainly has. I have since
combined my website
with his at
Mansell.com, which is now comprised of some 1,250 webpages containing
approximately 3,500 images and over 900 doc, pdf, excel, and txt files.
In Oct. 2015, I migrated over to Mansell.com my website on the ethnic
Japanese in the US prior to
and during WWII.

As
you know,
all of our efforts have been and continue to be volunteer. I personally
have
maintained and further developed the website, spending tens of
thousands of hours gathering thousands of
documents and images, transcribing some of them into
searchable
text (assisted also by volunteers in transcription
work), searching through a variety of fuzzy images and documents
for
information and clues in response to the hundreds of inquiries we've
receive. Due to time constraints, I am now simply collating and
uploading the
archival documents I have in my ever-growing files, and leave the
character
recognition up to the searchbots, which are increasingly getting much
better at picking out text in PDF files.

Over the years, countless individuals have been helped in their own
research
by what Roger, Dwight and I have sent them or have posted; you can read
excerpts from their
emails below, just a fraction, I might add, of the hundreds of
emails received.
There are some who benefit from these webpages we never hear
from again, but we do know that our work is not in vain. Many have
used the data we've sent to write college manuscripts, magazine/news
articles or
books of their own, and to also produce slide shows, DVD's, films and
other
presentations. All at no cost.

And it is our privilege to do so. We continue to receive a lot of data
from individuals who want to share their documents, images and
artifacts with others. They see the need to let others like themselves
know more about their relatives and friends who were POWs. It is an
honor to be able to post these stories for the world to see and to
learn -- that those amazing men and women may never be forgotten.

We need your help, that we may help hundreds more and enable this
website to continue to
evolve and become
even more of a valuable tool in the hands of researchers, especially
those seeking information about their loved ones who were Allied POWs
during WWII.

How To Support Our
Work

There are several ways to send funds:

Directly by check or money order -- no fees charged
this way. Email
me directly regarding more information.

Via PayPal
-- free within the United States if using
PayPal balance or bank account. Send to: winjerd(at)comcast.net

With a debit or credit card = 2.9% + $0.30
transaction fee;

International = 0.5% to 2% fee; debit or credit
card = 3.4% to 3.9%

NOTE:
Mansell.com is not a
501(c)(3) organization, i.e. we cannot send out
tax-deductible receipts (which are necessary for those who itemize
their taxes). All funds received are for webmaster work and research
support.

For
those who want to do even more, consider helping me out with a trip to
the National Archives, or the Japanese archives in Tokyo, or to be able
pay someone to do the legwork for me. Much more can be accomplished,
such as setting up POW camp memorial sites within Japan, printing
up
study booklets for use in classrooms, etc.

Thank you for being a part of this ever-growing work! Your support will
ensure that our POW friends will never be forgotten and will continue
to be an inspiration to us all.

Excerpts
from emails

In
closing, you can sure say that you have "made my day" - in fact you
have
"made my whole month"! This news of your finds at the Archives is
wonderful - I can't tell you again enough how thrilled I am and how
happy you have made me that you have found and copied these articles
for me. I owe you a great debt of thanks. When I tell the other members
of the committee I know they will be thrilled with your efforts as
well, and thanks in advance from all of them too... thank you once
again from the bottom of my heart for all you have done for me and the
work we are doing... to remember those men who suffered so much. M.H.

Wow! The images have great resolution. Thank you so much. I appreciate
all your work. P.N.

You
were kind enough to help me with a query about my aunt, a civilian
internee. With your information, I have been able to discover a lot
more
about her life. Thank you once again. P.B.

Thank you for your very quick reply. Your information has been very
helpful and me and my family are very grateful. F.S.

Your web site is a great service to others. T.L.

Mr.
Mansell was the first individual I was able to find who expressed an
interest in getting copies of these reports -- he has my family’s
gratitude for all the work he has done in documenting the Allied POW
history of the war. I’d like to extend that same gratitude to you all
as well. Thanks to people like you, the history of the POWs is being
properly recorded. M.D.

I hope the above information is of some help to you and, again, thank
you for reading about my father and taking the time to write. I love
him very much and miss him terribly. It was very thoughtful and nice of
you to write and let us know that his story is being read and he is
being remembered. C.J.

Thank you for all the work you have done to preserve the memory of a
few who gave so much. V.H.

Thanks again. The ----- stuff is pure gold. I wish I had be able to
access it when I was writing my first book. His prewar letters
and journal are a wonderful resource. I owe you so much for the
treasures you sent me. I am willing to assist you in any way I can. G.U.

Your package arrived yesterday! -----'s family will be so excited. I am
making each of them copies. They can try to get a hold of some of the
survivors, keeping in mind the list is 6 years old. But I was thrilled.
History in my hands! Thank you! You sure are a great wealth of
information to me! L.D.

Such a wonderful site for the POW's. Thank you so much for the
information and the correction of the first captured Americans during
WWII. B.

My dear grandfather, who is still alive and well today, was a POW in
Japan. Not knowing much about the whole subject I decided to find out
more on the internet. Naturally I chanced upon your site and, I have to
say, was very impressed at the information provided. Furthermore, I was
amazed to find the complete list of prisoners of war. It filled me with
pride to see the old boy`s name amongst the others. I congratulate you
on this. S.P.

I am fascinated with what you sent me relating to Tanagawa. M.

Thanks for taking the time to reply to a stranger. It is much
appreciated. B.C.

I can't thank you enough for your time and effort. I think this puts
this issue to rest for us. L.M.

Yesterday as I was sitting here painfully typing with one
finger, the list I had of Aussies, I noticed the mailman
deliver some thing to our mail box. When I retrieved this mail I was
delighted to receive your mail posted in States, so the old
snail mail is still reliable. I then had a couple of hours break, while
I enjoyed regenerating the old memory cells reading the lists of names
and trying to put faces to the names. My age will be 81 on the 21st of
March, as I was callow youth of 19 when I joined the Army. Again thanks
for your trouble of sending the list. I really appreciate your efforts.
R.H.

It's kinda like I am unraveling a mystery and have enjoyed the search
and talking with nice helpful men like yourself. Thanks so much for
your help. You should be commended for your efforts for the veterans. I
am grateful for everyone last one of them and I am very very interested
in learning as much as I can (like you say before time runs out). Thank
you so much for your help thus far. H.G.

I now know, after looking further into the site, that Fukoako and
Fuksako are one in the same. As soon as I saw the nickname of
"Pine
Tree Camp", I knew I had the right one. The stories that I have
been
reading, have made me cry. I don't know that I could have withstood
what our servicemen went through. My uncle has never talked a whole lot
about all the things that went on, and I am not sure he will now, but I
am going to try and get him to tell me about things that he remembers,
so I can send it to you. I am also going to "call" my
congressman,
"again" about compensation to POW's. C.W.

Truly a labour of Hercules... and I've only had a glimpse into the
stygian stable. J.R.

Again you have made wonderful progress on the site. P.F.

Thank you for all the information you've just written to me. Your
information has been invaluable. Thank you for your work in preserving
this important part of our history. P.B.

Congratulations on your remarkable website. M.D.

You are a superb soldier/supporter and counsellor extraordinaire!
Particularly encouraging are your analyses. D.A.

We are back online and I had a chance to spend some time on your
website. Wow! I am really amazed and impressed with the material you
have. I did print some pages for my files! Thank you very much. A.M.

Thank you for that information - each piece is another in the jigsaw
of information in understanding what my father went through in his 3
years and 8 months as a POW. I am interested that a Center like yours
actually exists. F.P.

You really started something when you passed on my query re Fukushima
Camp - we have been emailing each other daily since, exchanging photos
and bits of information and I think both parties feel delighted to have
learnt of the other's interest. M.D.

It is truly through the diligence and commitment of researchers such as
yourself, that the memory of those servicemen, and civilians, who gave
their lives for our country during World War II are not forgotten. B.A.

I'm honoured that you have remembered my father in this way. Keep up
the great work on the site. I shall visit regularly. A.R.

First of all, thank you for all the material that you have sent. We
really appreciate the fascinating research done. G.

Thank you so much for creating a site that can be remembered. I
look forward to the completion of your site. S.B.

Marvelous site! I think you're doing a wonderful job documenting the
POW camps in Japan. Best wishes and keep up the good work. J.M.

Your present site is very useful for many ex-pows to contact. T.N.

You have been a great help to me in getting me materials from NARA and
I value your input and assistance, and I would certainly like to work
together with you to tell more of the POWs' story. M.H.

Your website has more technical information than I ever knew of my
grandfather. Keep up the great work. J.A.

I just found your web site, and I can only sum up the information
therein with a "WOW!" Wonderful work! I will definitely be
watching
for updates! B.G.

You have done great work with your website. J.P.

Words cannot capture the emotion I felt while reading the mail I
received from you regarding my grandfather. Thank you so very much for
the information you returned for me. R.C.

Thanks for all the effort you have put into getting complete lists of
the various camps, etc. R.H.

You folks have a great site and do a tremendous service in
remembrance.
Thanks again for all your info and insight. J.A.

I would like to thank you ever so much for taking an interest in the
experiences of this great man, and it is my hope that we can keep the
memory of him alive. P.P.

Thank you so much for your response. There is so much I don't know
about what my father suffered. He would never talk about it. He gave so
much and suffered in silence. Thank you again for the information. G.M.

WOW!!!! What a goldmine you are! D.M.

Just thought I'd let you know that an "old-timer" came in today, a big
history buff, a former Marine and somebody who knew ----- when he was
growing up here in -----. I showed him the picture you'd sent and I
thought his eyeballs we're going to pop out of his head. It was neat to
see his reaction and how much people appreciate the efforts of folks
like you who want to keep the past alive. S.J.

I was amazed to find your site with my father listed as a POW at
Funatsu. Goodness, what a batch of memories your website brought up.
Thanks for doing this. A.L.

It was so good of you to capture me in the research room and tell me
all
about your POW efforts. I really like what you have done with your
website and I admire your energy in getting it all together. S.S.

Good luck with your researches; fascinating website you have developed.
B.P.

Thanks for the explanation and congratulations again on a fine web
site. I am particularly impressed by your idea of involving school
children. I have always been dismayed that children learn so little
about World War II in school and that they learn virtually nothing of
the treatment that our U.S. forces received at the hands of the
Japanese. J.L.

Thank you for all of your hard work - it means a great deal to my
father to be recognized and remembered. K.M.

Our "labor
of love" on the roster and story of Hanawa as ----- experienced it was
rewarded sufficiently by knowing you have worked long and hard in
organizing and getting this website begun. Our goal was to help get the
information out to the world after so many years of silence and going
unnoticed. J.M.

Many, many thanks for the package. The info is absolutely fascinating
and I shall treasure it. I really do appreciate your time and trouble.
C.B.

I enjoyed your knowledge of the camps and it is evident from your
website that you have done a great and factual job on the research end.
Thank you so much for the CD that contained the pictures of the POW
camps. I really appreciate what you have sent, they are very helpful in
my research of Dad's past. A.O.

There are some great new things on your site which I intend to have a
look at as soon as I can.
It's great to be working together with someone like yourself who has
the same goals in mind - to tell the true story and remember the men!
M.H.

Your material finally arrived here yesterday. I can only assume that
our postal service is exhaustively testing all overseas mail for
anthrax traces. But boy, it is worth the wait. Dynamite, as you
suggested. It appears to fill in every little gap in my own prior
understanding of the situation, and clears up a few annoying
disparities in information from other sources. Thanks to you I have the
exact date and a few other details... Thanks very much indeed for your
generosity and persistence. M.D.

Thanks again to you and your webmaster for the photos of
Itchioka. They are wonderful and crispy clear. Someday I will be
traveling your
way and would like to meet with you. E.P.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! That's him; the unique spelling of
his middle name is the give-away. I don't know how to thank you
enough!! I'll do my best to get a photo for your data base. Thanks
again for your help! R.K.

I do appreciate all the help you've given me. M.

Thanks for all your hard work. Hang in there. H.

Thanks for the information. I cannot thank you enough for taking the
time to do the research for me. B.S.

The roster you sent me is fabulous. It really completes the info
I
have on the people who were in Kobe House. Thanks much! I have reached
the ripe old age of 87 and expect to be around for some time
more. I
enjoy hearing from you, especially the material you have sent to me.
Keep 'em flying! A.L.

Thank you for your web site, and thank you for your time and love in
keeping their memories alive. May God Bless you. P.B.

Fantastic website! T.P.

Thanks for all the information you sent. It certainly brought back lots
of old memories. R.H.

You have been a wonderful resource and kind man in dealing with this,
Roger. It was a leap of faith and a bit of a risk for me to reach out
in this way and you have made it easy. Again, thank you for all you
have given me about my dad found in your research. That, as they say,
is priceless. May the good Lord bless you in the coming year. S.L.

Thank you very much for your help and for what you are doing for the
POWs. S.B.

Thank you. Your website is wonderful. M.P.

I just discovered your wonderful website on Hanawa, which is where my
late uncle was during the war. I want to thank you SO much for all the
work you did to compile this info. The gripping stories have made
me understand a lot more of what these heroes endured. M.S.

Thank you for having an informative research page. D.G.

Your work is so extremely valuable, both for history and for the
descendants of those men. If ever I get back out to Cal I will apply
for a job with you!! M.C.

First, thank for your website, the this rich resource has provided me
with valuable information. People like you... are worth your weight in
gold for ex-POW's and their
descendants. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your dedication
and time. J.B.

Thank you for your time and effort compiling the information found at
“Center for Research Allied POWS under the Japanese”. S.H.

I have used your site to learn more about my uncle as he still talks
very little about his experience in WWII. I want to thank you for all
your research and efforts to compile this site as it has given me
insight as to what he went through. Again, thank you for your site and
your mission regarding POW's. R.P.

I greatly appreciate the information you provided about my grandfather.
I wish he had told me more about his time in the camps in Japan but he
chose to keep this experience to himself and I didn't feel that it was
my place to probe him about any details. You provided a huge amount of
information that I never could have acquired any other way. Your
efforts
to keep the POW experience alive is greatly appreciated by the families
of the POW's. Once again, thank you so very much Mr. Mansell. If there
is anything I can ever do for you, please don't hesitate to ask. I am
always at your service. Keep up the great work! M.B.

Thank you for all the work you do to keep the memory of the Allied POWs
alive. J.K.

I also wanted to introduce you to a great man I have yet to meet
personally who has worked tirelessly on behalf of American Ex-Prisoners
of War. His name is Roger Mansell. He hosts a web site titled
"Center for Research - Allied POWS under the Japanese." Because of the
information he has posted on the Internet, I was able to confirm the
correct name of Dad’s camp and found a name list. I printed them
and mailed to Dad who was so appreciative!! Dad said that he
never knew until I sent him the lists the name of the camp he was in
and he could finally clear his mind wondering about the names of the
other prisoners in his camp. He said it was a great relief to
answer questions that had gone unanswered for over 60 years. Thank you,
Roger, for your incredible effort. You are a great American. J.A.

You web site is really incredible, my mother will be thrilled to see
it. It's a shame that most of the men missed out on this kind of access
to information. Thanks for all your efforts. L.B.

Thank you for having the site. It means a lot to the survivors and
their families -- to find out more about their whereabouts, the
hardship they endured, the lives they lived and gave so we could be
free. M.D.

You are a star! Such a quick result - amazing! Many many thanks. I have
emailed my friend and I hope she can confirm that they are indeed the
friends she was referring to. It seems almost certain. This is just
great. My admiration for your amazing website. Since searching for my
Dad's info I have bumped into your site just about all over the place,
so everybody seems to have found you. I only wish I had had access to
the internet and your site before my Dad died 10 years ago - he was
keen to read up on everything and he would have found this fascinating.
L.R.

I was very excited to find your website today, as my father ----- was
captured on Bataan, and was a prisoner at O'Donnell,
Cabanatuan, Hitachi, Zentsuji, and Rokuroshi. I was especially
excited at seeing his entry in the Hitachi camp page describing the
passage from the Philippines to Japan -- as he recounted to me, the
last ship to get through without being torpedoed. I will continue to
examine your interesting website. Sometimes it seems as though with the
passing of time, the sacrifices made by these men and women during WWII
will be dimmed, and I congratulate you on organizing this material on
the internet. I only wish that my dad had had the
opportunity to see these materials on the website, as he was a great
computer and internet aficionado, and would have been thrilled to see
much of this material in an accessible forum – especially the pictures
of Rokuroshi. He would have probably had some corrections if
certain things didn't seem to be presented the way he felt they had
happened, he was just the kind of a person who liked to “set the record
straight”! Thank you for organizing and presenting this material! E.G.

Your information though general in nature does help me to draw an
almost complete picture of the main events of the years following the
fall of Hong Kong I am most grateful for your help. May you... continue
to inform the world of those events as they should never be forgotten.
J.C.

It was good to see you again at our National Convention in Washington.
We owe you a debt of gratitude for your efforts to inform us and our
Descendants by searching the archives for desired information regarding
our past endeavors. ----- gave you special recognition at our
banquet on Monday evening -- sorry you weren't present for this
recognition. Keep up the ever ongoing searches, it means so much to us
and our families. Thanks again for all your really important work. E.R.

You gave me the flash memory in Washington, DC. Thank you very much. It
was such a huge memory I had never seen like that before. You will
never know how grateful we feel for your kindness and generosity. N.N.

I would like to give my thanks to Roger Mansell, Director of the Center
for Research, Allied POWS Under the Japanese. He is a noted
historian on the mistreatment and status of Allied Prisoners of War
during World War II. He is a great resource and hosts an
excellent website. B.B.